and now, the fallout. racist comments allegedly made by the owner of an nba tame causing huge controversy, in the game and outside the game. >> i'm surprised anyone is surprised. >> we cannot have an nba owner discriminating against a league that -- we're a black league, ernie. >> big questions remain. is it the los angeles clippers' owner on that recording, and will the team boycott its play-off game today? a live report ahead. stormy skies, another string of potentially dangerous weather slicing through this nation's midsection. where and when will it hit?

the very latest forecast next. history at the vatican in an unprecedented day. the view from st. peter's square, live. hey there, everyone, i'm alex witt, live here in los angeles. the center of the firestorm that is our top story this hour. it started here in this city, but it is igniting around the country, and now even president obama is weighing in. racially charged comments have surfaced allegedly made by los angeles clippers owner donald sterling. according to a report by tmz sports, sterling allegedly told a woman believed to be his girlfriend that he doesn't want her to bring black people to his games. the nba is promising a swift investigation. >> the audio recording posted by tmz is truly offensive and disturbing. and we intend to get to the

bottom of it as quickly as possible. >> nbc news has not been able to authenticate the audiotapes. overnight, president obama weighing in while on his trip to asia. >> when ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don't really have to do anything, you just let them talk. >> more of the president's comments in just a moment. however, first, the reaction from players and fans has been swift. joining me now, nbc's joe fryer, in oakland, where the clippers are playing later today. joe, i can just about imagine the firestorm. let's get to it. >> yeah, that's right, alex. the clippers in just a few hours will play golden state in the first round of the play-offs. but the nba says that owner donald sterling will not be at the game, in the wake of this controversy. as the league's play afters heat

up, there's a swift investigation into racist comments allegedly made by clippers owner donald sterling. >> the audio recording posted by tmz is truly offensive and disturbing. and we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. >> reporter: tmz sports posted what it says is an audio recording of a conversation between sterling and a woman named vee. it's not been verified by nba news. >> if you want to broadcast that you're associating with black people. do you have to? >> reporter: according to the tmz report, the two were dating and sterling was upset after she posted an instagram photo of her with magic johnson. >> you can sleep with him, bring him in, do whatever you want. the little i ask you is not to promote it, and not bring him to my games. >> what are we going to do? it has an impact and you move on. it upsets all of us. you know, there's not one guy

that's happy with this situation. >> reporter: on twitter, magic johnson said, i will never go to a clippers game again as long as donald sterling is the owner. miami heat superstar lebron james weighed in saying, if the reports are true, it's unacceptable. >> as a commissioner of our league, you have to be aggressive with it. >> reporter: the clippers president released a statement saying they don't know if the tape is legitimate or it's been altered. the girlfriend was sued lasted month by sterling's wife, who's trying to get back money in gifts. vee is fighting the suit saying in courts papers, her four-year relationship with sterling was long-standing, even though he's married. now it's the court of basketball at the center of the sterling controversy. >> i think the situation is most

unfair to the clippers players and coaches who have to deal with this distraction in the middle of their own highly competitive play-off series. >> reporter: the nba commissioner will not discuss any possible sanctions, saying that sterling deserves due process. some fans have called for a boycott of clippers games, but others say that the players should not be punished. alex? >> yeah. okay, joe, i know they're not saying what they want to do yet, but in terms of the true recourse, what the nba has at its hands, could it legally force sterling to sell his ownership of the clippers, or not? >> reporter: that isn't clear at this time. certainly nba ownership groups do have a lot of power over what happens. again, the commissioner is not commenting on that sort of thing. we know there's some press tent in the past in other major league press, one suspended with the cincinnati reds. but the commissioner is not going into detail about what the possible sanctions could be.

he says more investigation needs to be done. but they do want to get that investigation done as quickly as possible, perhaps in just a few days. >> okay. joe fryer, there in oakland, thanks so much. ment president obama commenting on the story in his trip to asia. good sunday morning to you, my friend. the president in malaysia right now. what is he saying about donald sterling's alleged comments? >> reporter: it was actually chuck todd who asked president obama about sterling's comment. i think a lot of journalists in the room were surprised how candid, how strong president obama was on the topic. white house officials said he wasn't expecting to get asked about it, but when he did, this is what he had to say. take a listen. >> i don't think i have to interpret those statements for you. they kind of speak for themselves. and i think that we just have to be clear, and steady in

denouncing it, teaching our children differently. >> president obama also said he has full confidence in the nba to launch a swift investigation, and to get answers quickly. and the nba, of course, has said that's exactly what they plan to do. >> let's go to what the president was certainly prepared for, and that is addressing the new sanctions for russia. kristen, what's the latest on that front? >> reporter: he was asked why the united states wouldn't move forward unilaterally with the biggest sanctions that would have a big bite on the russian economy, not onboard with sectoral with the sanctions, because they believe it could hurt their economy. they say it's more powerful to present a united front with its european allies, and to impose sanctions, therefore, on more high-ranking individuals, those

who are closest to putin. president obama making the point if the united states would move forward unilaterally, it would give putin an opening to make it a face-off against the u.s. and russia. tony earlier today said on "meet the press" that the u.s. isn't ruling anything out, including potentially targeting putin himself. alex? >> kristen, i do want to ask you about that poignant moment today as the president was speaking at the town hall with university students, and he reflected on losing his mother to cancer. what did he say? >> reporter: right. we've heard president obama talk about his mother's battle with cancer before, particularly in the context of the struggle paying her bills at the end of his life. but today he really spoke personally about the aftermath of that loss for him. take a listen. >> i regret not having spent more time with my mother, because she died early.

she got cancer, and right around when she was my age, actually, she was just a year older than i am now, she died. i realized that i didn't every single day, or at least more often, just spend time with her and find out what she was thinking, and what she was doing, because she had been such an important part of my life. >> really personal answer there from president obama when he was asked what he regrets most in life. and what's interesting about that moment, alex, is that we've really seen the president open up and get more personal on a range of issues in his second term. everything from race, to being raised by a single mom. and now to regretting not having spent more time with his mother. >> that was so touching. something i think we can all relate to, putting that into perspective. thank you so much, kristen, from the white house. >> reporter: absolutely. millions are embracing for what could be the most severe

outbreak this year. rafael is joining me with more. what's this about you're in new york and i'm out here? i would love to be where you are. >> nice weather here, and nice weather there. but unfortunately, in the mississippi valley, day one of what could be three days of a stretch of bad weather. the potential for widespread thunderstorm activity, tornadoes, damaging winds and more large hail. this is the area we're focused on here. especially arkansas into western missouri. that's where there's the moderate risk for severe thunderstorms today. but the slight risk extends all the way from southern louisiana back towards northern iowa. so big chunk of real estate under the gun here. it's been a busy morning to sfar. you can see the current severe thunderstorm watch boxes, western missouri, down through texas. we've had one round of nasty weather moving through arkansas this morning. but it gets worse as the

afternoon goes on. here's a closer look at kansas city here. storms just to the west, severe thunderstorms around topeka and kansas city, and the severe thunderstorm watch continues there as we take a jog east now. this is the area of concern where we could see a tornado watch pop up-the next couple of hours. the atmosphere is arrirife here. oklahoma, a busy start. but the threat now diminishing for oklahoma city. but it's increasing as you head east into arkansas as well. especially watching arkansas very closely. if we get that sunshine to destabilize the atmosphere through the morning into the afternoon, that's going to give us rife potential for tornado activity. we'll be watching this very closely. and again, unfortunately, this is just day one of what could be a three-day severe weather event. everything slides on to the east over the next couple of days. alex? >> very valuable heads-up. thank you very much, rafael miranda.

history at the vatican this morning. for the first time, two former poeps were canonized in the same ceremony. pope francis today elevated john paul ii and john paul xxiii. chris jansing was this, and chris, welcome. i'm so glad you were there. hundreds of thousands of people packing st. peter's square, along with you. give us a sense of what it was like to witness this incredible ceremony in person. >> reporter: hi, alex. history was made here today. you certainly got the feeling that something big was going on. first of all, 500,000 people here in st. peter's square, another 300,000 in front of big screen tvs elsewhere. a big cheer went up when pope francis walked out. of course, the hug, with pope

fra fran francis, and two other popes. john ii, who brought the second vatican council, including changing the mass from latin to native languages. that's why when americans go to mass now, it's in english. pope john paul, we should not forget that he was an actor. and he was the one who started world youth day. and many people have said he was probably seen by more people than any single human being. and he was someone who brought so many people to the church. and while their philosophies were different, much has been made, many analysts have said that the church was trying to downplay the fact that john the xxiii was the more liberal pope, and conservatism came back. but they were both immensely popular. then you have pope francis. after the 2 hour 15 minute

canonization was over, he got in the pope mobile, and spent a lot of time riding around here. you couldn't move because there were so many people crushing in to get close to him. something the church does extraordinarily very well with the pomp and circumstance, alex. >> chris, pope john paul ii, now a saint, still very much alive in the memory of many. it's only been nine years since his death. how unprecedented is his canonization? look at the speed in which he was declared a saint. >> reporter: completely unprecedented, never before has this happened. it's generally decades, even centuries. he was put on fast track. i was here for the funeral. and immediately, cries of santo subito went up. people wanted him to be made a sast immediately. and this was something that was fast tracked by benedict. it was francis who decided that the two popes would be canonized

together. this is not without controversy. some people believe that john paul shouldn't have been made a saint so quickly. they questioned in particular whether he could have done more for the sexual abuse scandal that rocked, particularly the american catholic church. but i can tell you for sure, with so many people coming here, so many that i talked to, alex, particularly huge contingent from poland, that was not the conversation being had here today. even in the rain, people still coming out. and excitement here for what happened today. >> yes, chris, i'm looking forward to getting a one-on-one discussion with you when we're both back at 30 rock. thank you so much. america's most eligible bachelor is off the market. what chris says is astounding about the cliven bundy case. ♪

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you know, we've been negotiating. i had hoped we'd make this progress. i hope that president hamas will go back to the negotiation. but the ball is in his court. this is not an excuse. >> well, that was israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. mahmoud abbas made a decision to forge a deal with hamas. democratic congressman david, welcome, nice to see you again. >> great to see you, alex. >> so here's the basic question. are peace talks finished? >> well, i think they certainly

have hit a bump in the road. i think secretary kerry in the past has been able to bring the parties back together to resume negotiations, even when they've hit a very difficult patch. i think this is a very unfortunate development. i think the prime minister is correct, hamas is a terrorist organization. this is an odd time for president abbas to begin this reconciliation with hamas. but again, i think if they were to see progress in the peace talks, it will require the palestinians and israelis to come back to the bargaining table. i'm hoping president abbas will heed the words of the prime minister and withdraw, or step back from that agreement and refocus on peace negotiations in the region. >> yeah, well, in terms of what you just said, there may be something there, because the palestinian authority and president mahmoud abbas made a statement this morning in which he called the holocaust the most heinous crime in modern history.

will that sort of have an overture, any sort of effect on israel? >> well, it's a very important statement, the first time he's ever made a statement like that, in the context of the current negotiations. i think a very important, kind of olive branch. bl that's enough to sort of bring israel back to the table, i think really depends on a statement by the palestinians that they're either going to stop the agreement with hamas, or at least put it on pause while they conclude peace negotiations and think about that. but it's hard to have a peace conversation with an organization that hamas, which has used violence, and which is identified as a terrorist organization. so i think the israeli prime minister is right. you need to sort of abandon that kind of agreement, and then come back to the peace process. >> switching gears here. let's take a listen to the president this morning discussing the crisis in ukraine. >> it's important for us to make sure that we are part of an international coalition, sending

that message. and that russia is isolated in its actions, rather than falling into the trap of interpreting this as the united states is trying to pull ukraine out of russia's orbit, circa 1950. >> i know that you just returned from ukraine, so what did you see there? >> well, i think the president is exactly right. this is a country that is fighting hard to keep its democracy, that has elections scheduled for may 25th. when we met with the prime minister, with the president, and also met with the vice president while we were there, but the ukrainian people are unified to their commitment to protect their democracy, to have free and fair elections on the 25th. and it's very important that the united states working with the international community do all that we can to to make sure those elections happen and that they're free and fair. and i think the president's right, we need to work in partnership with our allies, to impose a real cost on the

russian federation on president putin, for his actions, we're starting to see the impact of the stock market falling. there's flight of capital out of russia. so i think we can have more of an impact if we impose additional sanctions with our international partners. but we can't allow this to go unpunished. it has consequences, not only for the people of ukraine and the region, but for the geopolitical situation in the world, and for the long-term national security interests of our own country. so we've got to stay engaged in this and make sure we work together to impose tough sanctions. if putin doesn't pull back from this aggressive action. >> and that aggressive action, is there any way to get inside the mind of vladimir putin? can the u.s. identify some sort of a strategic goal for him in all this saber rattling? >> he made it clear that his goal is to reunite the soef yent union and reestablish this empire. i think he sees himself as sort

of this great, you know, contemporary czar of the new soviet union. i think what he's doing is sort of classic russian -- if you look at russian history, he's instigating this conflict in the east. these are folks that are really committed to protecting their democracy and moving forward with their elections. but there's no question russia is agitating, and creating unrest there with separatists. i think he's trying to do all he can to undermine the election process, and what we have to do is impose a cost to him. i know it's hard to get into his head, but it's clear that he's been very aggressive in taking over crimea. that he's agitating in the east. and trying to do everything he can to destabilize ukraine, because he sees that as a strategic benefit for himself and for the russian federation. >> nice to see you, david. thank you. >> nice to see you. thanks. the eyebrow raising item being raffled off in oklahoma to raise money for a youth baseball league.

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in today's number one wedding bells and funny places. a new gallup poll in montana and alaska think the most about their state. they say their state is the best, or among the best places to live in the nation. utah and wyoming are the runners-up. on the other hand, only 18% of rhode island residents are beaming with state pride. illinois and mississippi rounding out the bottom three. chicago may be known as the second city, the legendary comedy troupe's name, but chi town is first as the funniest city in america. boston comes in second, atlanta third. clooney, there are reports he's getting married, ladies. if he gets married in manhattan,

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life with crohn's disease ois a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking?

what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." president obama today said the u.s. found na lash a's government eager for assistance for the search for the missing malaysian jetliner. the president said he understands the heart ache of relatives who want answers, and said the u.s. will continue providing all the assistance needed. in new jersey they're trying to find out what caused a three-alarm fire to break out. one fireman was taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. a controversial fund-raising, about raffling off an ar-15.

the coach said many people in the area support the idea and points out all atf rules will apply. at the height of the nba play-offs, it is an off-the-court controversy that is stealing the spotlight. the clippers tip off against golden state, but donald sterling is not expected to be in attendance. this is the nba investigation audio recording of racist comments allegedly made by sterling. nbc has not verified the audio recording in question. the l.a. clippers say the recording does not reflect sterling's views, beliefs or feelings. hey, rob, good to see you. >> alex, nice to see you. >> let's talk about sterling's record. because this, if it is his, and he owns this, it does not appear to be an isolated incident. put this latest controversy into perspective for us. >> well, alex, there is a

history of accusations against donald sterling. but nothing's ever been proven. he was accused in his real estate business of racial discrimination. there was a lawsuit that was filed against him. he settled that lawsuit for $2.7 million. he was also accused by a former general manager of racial discrimination. this was a general manager of the clippers. but that lawsuit was dismissed. so yes, there have been talks out there, there have been lawsuits and allegations. but nothing's ever been proven. because of that, there really wasn't anything the nba could do to this point. >> so for those who suggest maybe the nba has turned a blind eye to sterling's previous record, what recourse does it have both then and now? and the big question, can it force him to sell the team? >> well, first they've got to prove the authenticity of this tape. they've got to prove it's donald sterling. they've got to prove the tape wasn't altered in any way. assuming they do that, which i

know they're working very hard right now to do, they do have options. there are press dents of owners being suspended by leagues. they've been fined over the years for all sorts of infractions. the league certainly could look to suspend sterling, to take him out of all the day-to-day management of the team. he's not attending the game today in golden state. they could tell him not to attend any games over a period of time. those are all options they have. they could certainly pressure him to sell the team, to force an owner to sell a team is a different and slightly more complicated thing, because at the end of the day, this is their property. this is private property. and so forcing is not easy to do, but pressuring is certainly something that they could do, to have him out of the nba family. >> yeah. talk about pressure. the timing of this, rob, it is coming during play-off season. let's take a listen to adam a silver.

>> it's truly offensive and disturbing. and we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. i personally think the situation is most unfair to the clippers players and coaches. who have to deal with this distraction in the middle of their own highly competitive play-off series. >> he said it right there, how does the nba handle a controversy like this, rob? without distracting from what's happening on the court? >> well, i think that adam silver, who is the new commissioner of the nba, he just took this job over in february, has his first real controversy on his hands. and i think so far, he's done everything that you would expect him to do. they came out with a strong statement condemning the comments on the tape. whether they were donald sterling's or not, the comments are offensive. clearly he -- you know, not having donald sterling at the game today certainly is a good thing. this game is on the road. they're acting very quickly. i'm sure, alex, if they can

authenticate that tape, the last thing the nba wants is a home game in los angeles later this week with donald sterling sitting courtside. i think they will act as quickly as they can to impose some sort of discipline to keep that outcome from happening, which would be a very awkward situation. >> okay. you know, quickly, i know the players discussed boycotting, they decided against it, but their coach doc rivers had something to say. >> what are we going to do? it has an impact and you move on. it upsets all of us. there's not one guy that's happy with this situation. >> yeah, that would also include magic johnson who said i'm not going to another clipper games ever again. do you think a boycott is a possibility down the road? >> i think that the players on the clippers, including, by the way, the president of the nba players situation, chris paul, who plays for the clippers, made a mature decision not to boycott, to play the game and wait to see how the nba handles this situation. and that's what they'll do. >> okay, rob, thanks.

>> thank you. another outbreak of severe weather is expected across the heartland today. this was yesterday after a swath of tornadoes left quite the trail of ripped-off roofs. forecasters say over the next couple of days, we could see as many as 100 tornadoes touching down. mike seidel is joining me now from north little rock, arkansas. what are you seeing so far, mike? >> reporter: so far, so good. we had storms this morning, but yes, we could have more tornadoes between now and wednesday than we've seen all year. we've had just over 100 twisters, and that damage from north carolina, that was ef-3 damage, the first ef-3 this season. we haven't gone this late since 1902. what we want to keep the streak alive is no fatalities from tornadoes. let's keep our fingers crossed. we have a new tornado watch, this covers the western half of missouri, includes kansas city, joplin and springfield. up into iowa, including des

moines. also extreme pargts of western kansas. in norman, that goes until 7:00. here in little rock, we have a very high risk of tornadoes. some of these could be strong tornadoes, ef-3 or stronger, and long track. some of these will touch down likely after sundown, the most dangerous time of the day, because you can't see them coming. and people go to sleep and they don't know if there's a warning or not. a lot to be concerned with, especially later this afternoon, through tonight. this is just not a one-day event, alex. we'll have severe weather in the deep south tomorrow into the atlantic southeast area tuesday and tornadoes even into wednesday. dangerous storms ahead for the next three to four days. >> let's hope tornado alley does not live up to its name. the advice chris hayes that he says served him well. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one.

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in today's office politics, my colleague and host of "all

in" chris hayes explains the bottles of booze in his office and why they remain unopened. first, i asked him about the response to the controversial situation with cliven bundy. >> it's amazing to me that a certain set of conservative media activists and politicians have chosen to make this guy an icon. this is someone who has been in violation, pretty clearly, of federal law for 20 years. he has taken his case to court after court after court over the course of 20 years. each subsequent court ruling finding his claims groundless. he's someone who says he, quote, does not recognize the authority of the federal government at all. he's someone who owes $1 million. he's someone who has his cattle grazing on federal land for free, for two decades.

the idea that this person would be chosen to be an embodiment of some set of conservative virtues is astounding. astounding. >> what should the government do? >> the government should find some way to enforce the law that will not induce bloodshed. and when you show up and there's 1,000 people who have got sniper rifles and scopes, they did the right thing to back off. but at some point the law will have to be enforced. >> this guy is quoted this week as saying some pretty racist remarks. they're just asinine as you listen to them. how does that change the equation, especially for someone who supported him? >> oh, you are seeing politicians now today scam perring, scam perring, scampering away. >> and journalists. >> yes. he is someone who, again, it was a very risky bet that people

made to associate themselves with this guy, who was kind of a crank to begin with. when you've got a guy running around saying, i do not recognize the federal government, that's not someone whose views are anywhere near the mainstream of american life on either side. >> i see you have a few bottles of alcohol stashed here. are these rachel maddow gifts? >> this is back drop, i don't know if it indicates i drink too much or too little. notice, neither are open. these were both gifts to me. and both have remained unopened. here's the evidence. >> all right, okay. >> i do enjoy quite a bit whiskey, scotch, bourbon, rye. >> rye? >> i do actually have a spirit rye for school nights. she told me that when we were out on a wednesday night. she ordered a glass of wine and i ordered a cocktail. she said, i don't do spirits on school nights. so i only indulge in the rye

manhattan on a friday night after a long week, or saturday night. >> you can hang with me if you do tequila. >> i'm not a tequila person. >> oh, no, chris hayes! >> my friend only drinks ta keel -- tequila. >> are you going to hold it against me? >> no. what should the fallout be? salesperson #1: the real deal is the passat tdi clean diesel gets up to 795 highway miles per tank. salesperson #2: actually, we're throwing in a $1,000 fuel reward card. we've never done that. that's why there's never been a better time to buy a passat tdi clean diesel.

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i'm surprised that anyone is surprised. i mean, donald sterling's reputation is such that one could say, if you keep a vicious dog for a while, and you know he's vicious, you can't be surprised when one day it bites someone. >> that was bryant gumbel about

sterling's racist remarks he allegedly made. the clippers have issued a statement in part saying, we have heard the tape on tmz. we do not know if it is legitimate or it has been altered. it also says, quote, mr. sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. it is the antithesis of who he is and what he believes. he feels terrible sentments are being attributed to him. joining me now, jason johnson. and political strategist, angela rye. welcome to you both. i'm sure this is going to be an interesting conversation. i do want to talk about this in big picture context. but before i do, what was your reaction when you saw and heard this story? i should add, nbc has not authenticated this voice on the tape. but jason, what did you think? >> it almost made me chuckle. because it just lays bare a

level of racism that still exists in this country. i think it's hilarious that the supreme court said we don't need affirmative action this week, then you hear this guy's voice. there are people in influence in this country who can hire, who can fire, who can accept you to school or not accept you in school that has this attitude toward minorities. i was bemused how naked and aggressive he was in his twisted mind-set. >> interesting. angela, your initial reaction to this? >> i think now my initial reaction is more about the statement. how repugnant. the statement is saying it doesn't reflect his feelings or beliefs, but he never once said it's not him. i know the tape hasn't been authenticated, but it's frustrating to me, being born and raised in seattle, washington, cliven bundy and now this, there are still things that were overtly racist. i never realized it was this blatant and this horrible. >> so, i guess big picture,

jason, on race, it's so often seems the country takes a step forward over time, and then something like this surfaces. and it's immediately two steps back. what is your sense? what is the correct context for these remarks? >> i think the correct context is to remember that he has every right to be a bigot. i've never liked the idea of somebody losing their job or losing their team or anything like that for being a racist. you have a right to be a racist in this country, that's what makes the country great, but you don't have a right to abuse your employees. that's the pattern of behavior we see with donald sterling. that's the larger issue. the nba hasn't done anything, and you can't have somebody like this continue to behave inappropriately when they own a team. owning an nba team is a privilege like being a player. if you don't act appropriately, there should be consequences.

>> angela, do we tend to project one person's apparent despicable comments onto a bigger part of society? big picture here, i'm not asking for you to give a representation of everybody, but in general, do you think african-americans now have reason to believe more whites perhaps think this way? >> i don't think this is about projection. i think in this instance we have to look at the impact. this is a man who has -- his income in his favor in terms of his privilege and he also has his skin color in favor of his privilege. what has happened is, he's projected this onto all of the players. there's a new tape now that the tape says he allegedly provides him with food, homes and cars. that projection is something we can't control, but people in this country really need to think about what impact can we have to ensure that these types of remarks don't run rampant in this country. i don't think that that's what makes america great.

i think that is absolutely what the problem is historically and at present with this country. and what makes us great is the fact that we've surpassed it and gone around it, in spite of everything that's tried to keep us back as a whole. i'm sorry, but this is very emotional. i just don't think that's what makes us great at all. i feel so bad for the players that they have to play under these circumstances with this owner. >> interestingly, jason, you're shaking your head. >> yeah, because look, one of the things that, again, i think makes this country great, that even when people have unpopular beliefs, it's out there, it's exposed and we have laws to deal with it. that's why this has been a problem. because there haven't been effective uses of the law to deal with this person's behavior. you can be a bigoted school teach or cop or hate gay people or hate women, whatever you want -- >> they have used the law correctly. >> no, it's not been used correctly. >> there are all types of lawsuits -- >> we're talking about what the nba commissioner should have been doing. if he happened to be an nba

player, he would have been suspended already. the laws and rules associated with being a member of the nba -- >> that's not a law. there's a distinction. >> those are rules and laws you follow if you happen to be in the nba and happen to be an owner. >> rules are different. >> we have to follow the rules of law here. this individual can be a bigot -- >> the department of justice -- >> we should have -- >> -- sued him in 2006. >> okay, okay. i appreciate laws versus rules and you're debating that right now. let me ask you in terms of the timing of all this. how much can you a tribute it being a generational matter? this is a man in his 8 0s. is there anything to that? a man in his 80s, holding these kinds of beliefs? angela, you first. >> i'm sure there is. but alex, we are in 2014. and these types of -- >> yes, we are.

>> when they have impact on larger cadres of people, especially a national basketball team. >> jason, generational perspective? >> he's old, but that doesn't have any excuse. there's plenty of old people who don't believe this way. you can find people who are 20 years old who believe that way. that mind-set has always existed. >> real quick, jason, what do you think will be the fallout here and what should be the fallout here? could be two different answers. >> it should be that adam silver has a serious conversation with him and says, look, you are noeg tifl affecting the brand of the nba. i would very seriously like you to seriously consider stepping down from your position and not harming this league anymore. >> that's what you think should happen. what will happen? >> i don't think anything's going to happen. i think donald sterling p slip away and hope the clippers get into the nba finals and this will be forgotten. they don't have much they can actually do. >> that's a wrap.

thank you both so much. >> thank you. as i said, that will do it for me this sunday. thank you for watching "weekends with alex witt" here from los angeles. ♪ when i'm halfway into your heart ♪ ♪ you have to let me know [ female announcer ] when sweet and salty come together, the taste is irresistible. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. nature at its most delicious. sweet and salty nut bars by nature valley. grossemisconduct... ortho crime files.

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what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. i'm patrick murphy. thank you for joining us. we have a lot of ground to make today on developing stories. a tough week for the military. shocking allegations that 40 veterans died at the medical system as they were put on a phantom waiting list. just this thursday in afghanistan, three american civilians were killed trying to help the afghan people. is america's longest war coming to an end? we'll have the compelling story of wounded,